How to Choose the Right Thermowell

Jim Cahill

Posted Tuesday, July 1st, 2014

Lets continue our series of posts on the educational temperature

measurement videos from Emersons team managing the Rosemount
brand of products and services. You can find the complete set of videos
on the Temperature Insights page.
Thermowells shield thermocouples and RTD sensors from direct contact
with the process. This 4:30 YouTube video, Thermowell Selection,
highlights factors that affect your choice of thermowell material, ways to
avoid thermowell failures, and questions you should consider to select
the best thermowell for your application.
For many industries, temperature is the most important process variable
(PV) to measure, since it can have a large impact on profitability, safety,
and quality of the production process. Selecting the right type of
thermowell helps ensure optimal system performance, long service life,
simplified maintenance, and overall integrity of the process being
measured.
Three questions can help with the thermowell section process:
1. What type of connection are you making to the process?
2. What is the best material of construction for the application?
3. What is the best stem profile for the application?

The most common types of thermowell process connections are

threaded, socket welded, and flanged. For the second questionbest
material of constructionthree factors need to be part of your
consideration set. First are the temperature limits of the material.
Second is the chemical compatibility with the process media being
measured. And, third is compatibility with the process piping material.

On the question of the best stem profile for the application, the three
most common ones are tapered, straight, and stepped. Tapered stem
profiles provide good response time and strength, but can induce a
higher drag force on the fluid flow. Straight stem profiles are extremely
strong, but provide slower response time and induce a higher drag
force. Stepped stem profiles provide lower drag forces and faster
response times, but are less strong than the other stem profiles.

Thermowell failures are typically caused by high drag forces, excessive

static pressure, high temperature, corrosion, and/or fluid-induced
vibration. To avoid these failures, its important to run thermowell
calculations based on your application. The Rosemount Thermowell
Calculations page helps you perform the calculations to comply with
updated standard, performance test code, PTC 19.3TW-2010.